The Battle of Amiens has been credited as the moment the tide finally turned conclusively in favor of the allies during World War One; it was also called the “Blackest day of the German Army” by the commander of the German troops.

The Germans are Halted: Context

World War One had been a stalemate on its Western Front since late 1914, but the German High Command made a fateful decision a few years later: restart Unrestricted Submarine Warfare.

This bought the United States into the war, and Germany found itself facing millions of fresh troops arriving to tilt the balance in their war of attrition. A decision was taken to try and break the Western Front deadlock, using newer tactics, and the Spring Offensives were launched. At first these scythed through allied defenses and pushed the Allies back, but the Germans could not sustain the assault, faltered, and were stopped. The trench lines had moved, but there was a palpable sense that the Germans had made their last throw of the dice, and were out of manpower, resources and ideas.

The Allies Counter and Amiens is Targeted

The Second Battle of the Marne, overseen by new overall commander Foch, pushed the Germans in that region back from their recent conquests right to their starting point. As this attack stalled, the British readied their own attack, to take place near Amiens. However, Foch was so emboldened by the victory on the Marne he asked for the First French Army, stationed near the British troops, to take part too, to broaden the assault and hopefully win a bigger victory.

There was, however, a problem: the British plan learned lessons from Cambrai, and was to use a massive tank attack without an opening artillery bombardment; the French needed the opposite. The compromise was the British would attack first, using their surprise, and the French would bombard and attack forty five minutes later. It’s worth pointing out that the ‘British’ army included vital numbers of Australians and Canadians.

The Battle of Amiens

On August 8th 1918 a targeted artillery attack on certain key positions began early in the morning, followed by a creeping barrage as the British attacked. The result was almost total surprise in the German trenches, and a fifteen mile stretch of German trench was not just taken, but pushed right through. The French followed. As the attack penetrated several miles forward, the cavalry – held back for many years in case of a wonder breakthrough which never came – were able to push on and out. There was, sometimes stiff, opposition, such as the move north which met tough strongpoints and had fewer tanks to neutralize them, but by the end of the day the average advance was seven miles, on a front where progress had sometimes been measured in feet.

The "Blackest Day of the German Army"

The attacks continued, the Germans clearly being off balance, and by the 11th of August the Germans were back in the defenses they’d occupied before their Spring Offensives. But it wasn’t just the eight miles forward which was key: the allies had proven they could assault German lines, make major breakthroughs, and throw the enemy back. The Germans were shown to be tired, struggling, cracking under the pressures of 1918. Suddenly, the allies had evidence they could win this war, and the Germans the reverse. Eric Ludendorff, in practical control of the German forces, called August 8th the “Blackest day of the German Army.”
Amiens saw 22,000 allies killed, and 74,000 Germans lost as either casualties or, in the first major surrenders of the war, captured: attackers had traditionally lost more in the war. The allies would continue to press their new advantage, and new attacks were planned that would cause the Germans to buckle, and seek an armistice. World War One was nearly over.